E.In the year after the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of the then President Donald Trump, the momentous attack on Parliament will be commemorated this Thursday in Washington. UP President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are due to speak at the Capitol this morning (9:00 a.m. local time / 3:00 p.m. CET) at the Capitol. A speech by the Chairwoman of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, is planned for the course of the day. There is also a minute’s silence in the parliamentary chamber to remind of the storming. Pelosi announced in advance that the memorial services were planned “in a spirit of unity, patriotism and devotion”.
The attack on the Capitol marks the first anniversary on Thursday. Supporters of Republican Trump stormed the seat of Congress in Washington on January 6, 2021 to prevent the election victory of his Democratic challenger Biden from being confirmed. Five people were killed in the attack. The attack on the heart of American democracy, in which many MPs and senators feared for their lives, shook the country. Critics accuse Trump of inciting his supporters to act in a speech before the storm. Trump has not recognized his electoral defeat against Biden to this day.
Trump doesn’t want to speak publicly today
The US Democrats – who include Harris and Pelosi as well as Biden – see the storming as a direct attack on the political system of the United States. Trump and several of his Republicans, on the other hand, have downplayed the significance of the events. Trump had originally announced that he would give a press conference in Florida on the anniversary, but canceled it on Tuesday. Instead, the ex-president said he would address many of the important issues at his next major event in Arizona on January 15th.
According to the Justice Department, 725 suspects have been arrested and charged in connection with the storming of the Capitol. The judiciary is determined to hold all perpetrators accountable “whether they were present on that day or otherwise criminally responsible for the attack on our democracy,” Justice Minister Merrick Garland said on Wednesday. “We will follow the facts wherever they lead.”
Jimmy Carter worried
Former US President Jimmy Carter expressed his concern for democracy in the country on the occasion of the anniversary. “Our great nation is on the brink of a widening abyss,” wrote Carter in a guest article for the New York Times. “If we do not act immediately, there is a real risk of civil conflict and the loss of our precious democracy.” The Democrat, referring to the Republicans, criticized the proponents of the “lie” that the election was stolen as having “a political party taken over and stoked distrust in our electoral system ”.
The majority leader of the Democrats in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, made a similar statement on Wednesday. “Make no mistake: the cause for January 6th is still present today,” said Schumer. “It’s the big lie spread by Donald Trump that undermines trust in our political system and makes our democracy, our country, less secure.”
Unsustainable claims
Trump claims to this day that he was fraudulently robbed of his victory in the November 2020 election. He has never presented any evidence of this. Dozens of lawsuits against the election results were unsuccessful in the courts. Nevertheless, according to a poll published on Wednesday by the news site “Axios”, only 55 percent of Americans believe that Biden legitimately won the election – a little less than a year ago (58 percent).
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On her first visit to Washington as foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock called for the protection of democracy on Wednesday. One of the lessons from the attack on the Capitol is that “democracy does not fall from the sky,” said the Green politician after a meeting with Pelosi. “A year ago, as Germans, as Europeans, we all looked to Washington in deep, deep friendship and shaken.” The events at that time “did not pass by without a trace”.